Birthmarks

Otto Kadoke works as a psychiatrist at a crisis center: his task is to keep people with a death wish alive. One day, when he visits his old, needy mother, one of her Nepalese caretakers opens the door wearing nothing but a bathroom towel. The psychiatrist, always bend on sticking to protocol, is overwhelmed by feelings of love for the girl; as a consequence, from now on he will have to arrange taking care of his mother by himself.

Kadoke has no children, is middle aged, but not unattractive to physicians in training: he has managed to seduce several of them. After yet another transgressive encounter - this time with a suicidal young woman – both Kadoke’s professional and private life start falling apart: his mother’s house is turned into an outpatient crisis center.

Birthmarks is a ruthless novel about a son’s love for his mother and father, and vice versa. A book about two people unable to live – or die – without each other.

Éditions Héloïse d'Ormesson

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